The continuous shrinking in dimensions of electronic devices utilized in ULSI circuits in recent years has resulted in increasing the resistance of the BEOL metalization as well as increasing the capacitance of the intralayer and interlayer. This combined effect increases signal delays in ULSI electronic devices. In order to improve the switching performance of future ULSI circuits, low dielectric constant (k) insulators and particularly those with k significantly lower than that of silicon oxide are needed to reduce the capacitances. Dielectric materials that have low k values have been commercially available, for instance, one of such materials is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) with a k value of 2.0. However, these dielectric materials are not thermally stable when exposed to temperatures above 300.about.350.degree. C. which renders them useless during integration of these dielectrics in ULSI chips which require a thermal stability of at least 400.degree. C.
The low-k materials that have been considered for applications in ULSI devices include polymers containing Si, C, O, such as methylsiloxane, methylsesquioxanes, and other organic and inorganic polymers. For instance, materials described in a paper "Properties of new low dielectric constant spin-on silicon oxide based dielectrics" by N.Hacker et al., published in Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., vol. 476 (1997) p25 appear to satisfy the thermal stability requirement, even though some of these materials propagate cracks easily when reaching thicknesses needed for integration in the interconnect structure when films are prepared by a spin-on technique. Furthermore, the precursor materials are high cost and prohibitive for use in mass production. In contrast to this, most of the fabrication steps of VLSI and ULSI chips are carried out by plasma enhanced chemical or physical vapor deposition techniques. The ability to fabricate a low-k material by a PECVD technique using readily available processing equipment will thus simplify its integration in the manufacturing process and create less hazardous waste.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a low dielectric constant material of hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon which is thermally stable to at least 350.degree. C. and exhibits very low crack propagation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a low dielectric constant and thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a low dielectric constant, thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film from a precursor which contains Si, C, O and H and which may have a ring structure.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a low dielectric constant, thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film from a precursor mixture which contains atoms of Si, C, O, and H.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a low dielectric constant, thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film in a parallel plate plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition chamber.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a low dielectric constant, thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film for use in electronic structures as an intralevel or interlevel dielectric in a BEOL interconnect structure.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating a thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film of low dielectric constant capable of surviving a process temperature of at least 350.degree. C. for four hours.
It is yet another further object of the present invention to provide a low dielectric constant, thermally stable hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon film that has low internal stresses and a dielectric constant of not higher than 3.6.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide an electronic structure incorporating layers of insulating materials as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a BEOL wiring structure in which at least one of the layers of insulating materials comprise hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon films.
It is yet another further object of the present invention to provide an electronic structure which has layers of hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon films as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a BEOL wiring structure which contains at least one dielectric cap layer formed of different materials for use as a reactive ion etching mask, a polish stop or a diffusion barrier.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide an electronic structure with intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a BEOL wiring structure which has at least one layer of hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon films as reactive ion etching mask, a polish stop or a diffusion barrier.